HEY! Thanks fer aksin!

We have done a LOT of traveling and even more prep for said travel..and even MORE clean-up after said travel.  We had a very nice Thanksgiving and 2 days later had a birthday party for Dandydad’s Mom!  Mom turned eighty and ALL four of her scattered (geographically I mean–you people!) sons made the trek back to Huron SD for the big day. wanna see?

Charlotte and her boys

There we all are..All of the sons and very nearly all of the grandkids the ones smaller than my little Dandyboys are great-grandkids–yeah I held a baby girl a lot!   At the time I thought that orange sweater was a good choice too.

And in the odd free 10 minutes here and there??

TWO of my quilts are back from the quilters!! Only a small one remains.. I have been hand-stitching the bindings in place!  The one in my lap is a star quilt with FOlklorika fabrics-I’ll show you when I’m done—–the other one that I have finished??? ready? can U tell I am excited??

fanfare please…

FEEDSACK FRIENDS!!!

I wish I could show you the quilting better-she did an AWESOME job–She says “I aim for awesome” and she hit the mark! Each block is quilted differently and she even went against her quilter nature and put a couple of spots of close-stitching that overlap to look like patches!  I also had her use a nice cotton batting so it has the heft and feel of a heritage quilt–ANNNND it will get those teeny little wrinkles all around the quilting when I wash it.  SO-there she blows.. about 18 monthes start to finish and worth every moment!

Can you guess our favorite part of this cake    We simply had to try it because I loooove heritage recipes that have come down through generations…I figure there is a reason you know?  This came from Mary over at Hope Echoes–she made a special point to get us all the recipe after putting the cake name in her “Where I’m From”.  I only had to accuse her of being a cake-tease the once too!  I was going to do a big long picture-full post about it but meh–I think a few will do donchoo??

Let’s git started-the sooner we begin the sooner we can taste it!

Prop recipe card in corner of well-loved pan for an artsy picture–thanks Laurel!

Dry ingredients…

Mixing in the wet…mmmmmm

We did leave out the red coloring…NOT a big fan of colored-for-the-sake-of-making-it-red red things here–If we eat it and it’s red–GOD made it red!    Kinda hard to call it Red Earth Cake I suppose but I remain unmoved and it’s MY kitchen after all.

Then I put nuts on top of it and big marshmallows cut into quarters anad my fingers were all marshmallow sticky and it was Sunday morning and I wanted it ready in time to take to potluck so no pics of the big yummy mallows and nuts–I did snap a couple AFTER a poured on the hot drippy icing that ga-LUES them to the top of the cake.

FUDGEY!!

The verdict?  I think my Baking Soda may be a bit flat-it didn’t rise as much as I would have liked-a bit dry and dense but I will try again for sure–the frosting was glorious and easy too–or as Mary likes to say (in my comments no less) “Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy”  The coffee in this chocolate cake makes it very nice indeed!

THANKS MARY!!

She has a VERY expressive face!

WHAT is the deal with the music players on blogs anyway?  Why do I have to read blogs to someone elses soundtrack or play “beat the music” when I scroll down far enough to see the player and it kicks in?  Even more annoying?  “LOOK folks! here is a slideshow I made of my children playing in the rain–turn off my player first so you can hear the music ON THE SLIDESHOW.”!!!!! duelling players!  Do these (well-intentioned I am sure) people really think I am in a quiet room with nothing else going on and would like a bit of music?  If that were so–wouldn’t I be listening to MY OWN?  If I want music I’ll do it here thankyouverymuch. I want to read what you have to say and see the pictures from your life–NO soundtracks!!

A quick why….here’s the dealio–I HAVE EIGHT KIDS PEOPLE!  I love my life-but quiet moments are not plentiful…All of my little guys come with their own personal soundtracks.. “I aaaaaammmmmm putinonmy SOOOOOOOOCCCKKKSSSSSEEEZZZZZZ” “nnoooow IIIIIIIMMMMMMMdointheother OOOONNNNNEEEEE” or playing…”My guy has dynomite-he will blow up your guy” “MY guy will shoooot your guy”"MY guy will BOMB your guys from this plane with this bomb’”My guy has a CAT!” “humming loudly the theme from A-TEAM JUMP B.A. JUMP!”and ALL of the sound effects required.  I love listening to the things their minds come up with–but if I turn on music?  They need to get LOUDER to hear themselves–boys=cute   boys+more sound=maddening. MADDENING I SAY  BWAAAAAA HA HA HAAAAAAAA. ahem…escuse me..I’m back now…

One last point…why oh why oh ever-lovin WHY WHY WHY does almost every place that catches me off-guard with music catch me with “The Gift”??? (David Nevue)  Did they have a meeting? “OK Ya’ll let’s decide what music to use on our blogs for the next 40-some odd years Kay?” “Remember a lot of our readers will have their sterios on..and  washing machines going…and dishwashers…and maybe videos on the TV…and the phone will ring…and the kids will be asking for things and singing to themselves…let’s pick something really really calm and hypnotic. mind-numbing even….and let’s put it on every post we make-whether it matches our topic or not–ESPECIALLY IF NOT!” {insert ringing evil laughter here}

Do you guys think that sound-track bloggers have a soundtrack in their heads with them all day long as they go about their days?  And that that naturally translates to their writing NEEDING to be accompanied in some way?  Do they hum the theme from Hawaii 5 O at the beach or whistle the theme from Mission Impossible while matching socks? Oh-WAIT–I do that (except the beach part-what’s a beach?)  If they DO live life to an inner movie soundtrack–what kind of mind comes up with the SAME SAME SAME SAME song over and over and over and over ad nauseum? and when does THE GIFT start playing??  Are they medicated into some strange compliant, content,half-lidded state?  I can think of NO activity in my day that that song works with.  WHOA___maybe it’s the song itself! maybe it hypnotised them and by placing it on their blogs they are trying to get me too……THAT’S why the player starts automatically …they are all out to get me with their peaceful murmerings…well it won’t work I tell you! I have a cat-holding bomb-dropping,gun-shooting, new-mat-ic drilling crew of sanity police ready to run to my rescue!

One final question…if I had the time to research it I wonder what the proportion of people who use parenthetical (((HUGS))) is to people who Muzak their blogs and lives???  If I had any interest in things actuarial I might like to find out.

Isn’t the English language a wonderful thing?  I am convinced that the reason English is rapidly becoming language of choice  around the world is because of of it’s wonderful mutability.  We invent and reinvent words as needed and steal and assimilate others when appropriate. Need a word to desribe an action very precisely? No problem! Just “verb” a noun!

I would really like people to stop dumping on the process of changing language and adding new words–SURE–it’s easy to mock when people start using the verb laptop-”I sat on the couch and went laptoping for a bit last night.”  But it is so much more concise and descriptive than any of the verbose alternatives.  Remember if you want to stay “old school” you also can’t use “surf” or “web” or internet”  (or “old school!) etc.  Keep in mind that words like sledding have been around for a long time and started out as nouns also.  I like to think of some Pilgrim child being firmly corrected by his father when he announced he was going “sledding” instead of the more proper “sliding on thee ice” 

The verbing of nouns is only the tip of the iceburg in this, our fickle language mistress…we can (and DO) mix parts of words together to create all new words that everyone instinctively knows the meaning of! A fav of mine in our house is “smothecate”  SO much more poetic donchathink? Also-you know those little booklets with assembly directions that come with Legos? CONSTRUCTIONS! I’d like to see German try that! Don’t get all het up about our new words either!  Shakespeare invented “upstairs” and I bet you use it a lot!

I love listening to kids apply “rules” that don’t apply in that instance too-without all our irregularity and odd rules how would we ever find amusement in, say, “amn’t” or Anner’s fav word: willn’t? As in “I willn’t drop my apple core under the couch again.”  And watching their little minds try to wrap around why neither “foot” or “feet” has an S on the end when you obviously need one to express that you mean both of your feets (foots?)

The endless possibilities for diminutives is soooo much fun as well!  Was anyone else ever frustrated reading Tolstoy for the first time? All those Russian diminutives (each character had at least 6 names)–I needed a cheat sheet when I read Anna Karenina my Jr year! I hated it then but live it now!  The names for my baby alone …LeAnder, Anner, Bo, Bobo, Annerbo, Nerbo, Littleguy, Potty boy, Buddy….

I love the way English lends itself to wordplay as well-I think that kind of play captures a child’s imagination AND encourages a strong desire to read and write.  Read Suess to see why–read it outloud to a child and watch their face if you don’t get it the first time.  Still don’t get it? Read faster!  Want to play more with it? Rap it!  (I mean the “real” Suess-not the beginner ones which have their place as well-but for real wordplay and language love read the longer ones!) Now that you have played with Suessian verbage-go read some of Tozer’s poetry!  Yup! The same language gives each poet the tools he needs to express himself.  Descriptive prose? Try the frogs in “Perelandra” or the head in “That Hideous Strength” if you want to see the full power of mere words to put an image in your mind.

That being said I need to point out that there a couple of things you will ever hear from me–ever.  If I ever refer to “my peeps” you can betcher Webster’s unabridged that I am referring to my sugar-coated, bright yellow, fluffy marshmallow guys-or maybe baby chickens-but then I would say YOUR peeps to the child who should feed them.  There is also only one way I will ever use the word “frenemy” even under the torture of watching the Barney theme song in a continuous loop (SHUDDER)…that is to refer to this:

I DO have a post in mind–I will finish up school and then…one girl can do dinner and one can do a general house pick-up while 2 boys pick up toys behind 3 boys and one does a quickie vaccuuuuuum zooooom.  I will slip into my hazmat suit and do the bathrooms quick–THEN I think I will have a few minutes to play!!

Now I need to scoot-gummy bears and unattended preschoolers do not a peaceful situation make.

This is actually our SECOND snowfall!  We had about this much Friday night and it mercifully melted off by yesterday.  Last night our yard was once again turned into a winter wonderland-a FRIGID wonderland-a sticky WET soggy wonderland-a muddy under the white wonderland–a whiney dogs and cats bringing the wonderland indoors wonderland.  A pile of winter gear and mittens and hats with boots and dog-tracks on top right inside the door wonderland.  Rosey cheeks…frosted leaves…hot chocolate with marshmallows…thrum mittens…cozy blankies…books…knitting….OK—I think I am ready now…sure woulda been nice to have some autumn first though.